What do you think the world will be like in the year 3012?

History has taught us to never underestimate the abilities of the human mind. There has been many advancements in science that has cleared up questions about our universe. Advancements that have led to cures of many diseases. Advancements that have helped us cope with severve weather conditions.

People have also made leaps with the way they interact socially. Gays are being supported for marraige. Governments have risen and fallen. And people are still fighting for proper citizen rights.

What future do you see?

Do you think we will find life on other planets?
Do you think there will be changes in our currencies?
How will our ways of transportation change?

May 24 2012:
Look back to 1912... The world was a very different place then with one important exception - people. People are always going to find a way to change things for the better. I believe that with all my mind and heart. Not in a "black and white" simplistic way. I know it's complicated. but the movement is ultimately forward.

May 27 2012:
I think the world will be all eletronical with robots, as well. We will have some kind of chips with a memory disk in our head to save different information and in that case we won't have to put effort to remember things. I think that technology will lead us to disaster. As I heard that in some countries people have some kind of chip which is used for searching in case you are lost(LOL). I don't like the way our planet is on, it was better when we were playing in our garden than now when we are 24 hours in front of computers stuck in time and staring at a monitor with no social life!!! Oh, what a sad destiny!

May 27 2012:
Okay, so here's my vision...
We may have discovered simple life forms on other planets through remote scanning - but I doubt through visiting.
Currency, like the government, will be global. Money will be digital - carried in a chip implant.
Government will be concerned with extending scientific knowledge, maintaining the environmental and the biological health of the Earth as well as expanding human spirituality and positive social cohesion.
Transport will be by electric pods that we will programme to carry us at high speed and in total safety to our destination.
The global population will be less than our current population - probably around 4 billion. It will be stable. People will have discovered the environmental and social need and benefits of small families - no more than two children per family unit. Genetic disorders will have been eradicated from the gene pool through screening. Many people will opt not to have children of their own but to co-sponsor a sibling's child or cousin's child.
People will live longer - perhaps to 120. They will be fitter for longer.
Education will last until we are 25. Work will revolve around useful duties allocated to us, after discussion, and based on our aptitude for the task. Women who choose to have children will not be expected to work - raising their child /children will be considered their useful duty. People who choose to co-sponsor a child will be held in high regard.

Environmental and biodiversity laws will be strictly enforced through social pressure to conform. Most people will eat a meat / fish free diet - insects will be eaten as the main source of protein.

War will not play a part in life - since the previous 1000 years was spent coming together to overcome natural disasters, food and water shortages, unstable tectonic plates and difficult climate patterns - their was no inclination for war since all the planet's people experienced different problems.

May 24 2012:
We are on the brink of extraordinary times for sure. The question is: What can change the nature of a human being? I dont think that humanity made leaps with the way they interact socially... especially with homosexuality: We had already cultures with an accepted "same-sex-love-culture" (Japan or China for example). I dont think that technology is able to change humans - instinct tells the bees, which flower to pollinate and humans how to behave badly :)

My grandma was born 1900 and grown up with horses on the street. 70 years later she sat in front of a TV and watching men flying to the moon. From horses to spaceships in a lifetime, thats quite a jump. Did all the technology development influence her nature? No, still the same grumpy woman all her life. We are using cellphones and computers to communicate today, but we gossip about our neighbours like the ancient greeks 3000 years ago. And it wont change in 1000 years for sure, except: Genetic engineering... that is an unknow force, which can change and shape humanity forever. I have a bad feeling about this.

May 28 2012:
Are our emotions or the ability to communicate and interact with other humans tied to genetics? Free will and self-awareness? We dont grasp the whole picture between those dependencies and even if we have this knowledge... knowledge is not equal wisdom. Big difference.

The worst case scenario: Humanity will still have the astonishing lack of wisdom like today. If we could remove jealousy via genetic engineering... ah, very tempting. Crime? Society is better without criminals, right? Some fools will decide to get rid of certain emotions and bad behaviour for sure.

But the ability to break rules and ignore social norms is important (french revolution, Galileo Galilei for example) and jealousy, passion, hate, love, anger, hope... think about all the great art, books, screenplays and culture without it.

May 23 2012:
I believed that everyone was supposed to die in December ... lol !

More seriously, I deeply believe in a progress of our lives through times, and so I sincerely hope that people will live in a more peaceful educated and free world, a world where the dreams we hear at TED would be fulfiled ! I'm convinced that democracy will keep spreading as it did in our history.

May 21 2012:
01-01-3012
News!
We just discovered an old hard disk dating back a thousand years! Historians are trying to decipher the disk and find that the civilization had stored small amounts of data in such LARGE disks! They are however trying to decipher the data and are able to see "ones" and "Zeroes".. and nothing else!

May 30 2012:
What future do you see?*
A thousand years; definitely supercomputers answering advance quantum problems like basic math problems. Hundred plus year life spans. If not colonized on another earth-like, getting there. Space colonies anyways. Earth is probably in bad shape, leaving it would be the best bet - which can go a lot of ways; socialistic - capitalistic.

Do you think we will find life on other planets?*
I say, we already have - as in the race of human has; historically and possibly today know where life exist else where. Yes, one day we will recognize we are not alone at this stage of mental evolution in the universe. What will follow that? Is a science fiction thought.

Do you think there will be changes in our currencies?
Hope so. Best bet. Everyone agrees to drop current monetary system and to agree to build a world that can build basic necessities in plenty. Ocean cities. Space colonies. After that, make monetary value for non-essentials and/or better essentials. However as long as you are an active member of society - you are an equal on basic need requirements. Education system patent pending...

How will our ways of transportation change?*
Tubes in the ocean that are high speed. Better planes, but personal air crafts would have to hover, not fly. 1 billion pilots in the sky? Need a new system, do able, but would be more luxury than practical. Who knows this one, I am not engineer savvy with efficiency.

Transhumanism writers ask about these very questions and concerns, I recommend checking out the culture of scientist and philosophers that consider themselves trans-. Worrying about the post human, the future human in a sense, is essential to make sure that they are well off in living conditions. It will teach us that, well the platinum rule is accurate. Being adaptable and treating people like they expect to be treated rather than how you expect to be treated

Worrying about these values of futurism can also bring euphoria in the mind, Happiness

May 29 2012:
In my opinion basic needs that represent ourselves to other things should have a tremendous leap, again and again no matter what, even beyond 1000 years. Why? Because for any kind of research actually represent self actualization to different forms of real life, and the closest research to our typical (that will always be the most interesting fields) are:

- Ourselves, genetic engineering,
- Our inner self, spiritual awakening
- Control, interconnected between our brain and machine
- Intimacy, no distance from us to the other people through communication
- Health, human will have more chance to live longer
- Public Services, online shopping
- Entertainment, virtual reality
- Violent, even stronger since there will be hard competition
- Protection, nuclear weapon ownership will spread to many countries
- Space, there will be space domination, for the moon and other planet for our resources
- Leadership, since i believe anything should have balance, fairness, then when at one side has been improved tremendously (extremely), but the other side will lead to create equilibrium, and it will naturally be realized through the leadership of a very strong and dominating, and move from one country to other countries as an natural adjustment, to eventually stop (beyond 1000 years) in a country until the time for the longest period ever happened in domination (It's because anything move within different poles of a cycle, big to small, many to less, small to big, less to many, and any possible of cycles, to create balance)

Now, make all of these as one scenarios, it's fantastic and even scary.

May 29 2012:
You picked such a distant time. If Kurzweil is evenclose to being right about the exponential nature of technological change,then by 3012 we should have undergone more than a million years of it by then. That's a million years by today's metric. A rough guess might be that any inhabitants of Earth at that time would be members of cultures who embraced primitivism. Amish-like, Most others will have departed the planet for this is no place for a species like what we will have become, to live. We are just beginning to become engineered life. They will find that state normal.

May 28 2012:
I think life will be a whole lot of fun for most people. I think we will be interacting with miscellaneous life forms from other planets and continuously expanding our knowledge and understanding about all things. I think people will have acquired the understanding of the simple cause/effect relationships that clearly indicate positive acts, positive words, positive anything causes positive impacts on various quantities of people in various places at various times. Excellent health in mindbodyspirit will be the norm and the health system will be devoted to maintaining and improving the robustness level of our loveable/loving/loved earth population. By now, I'm guessing you catch my drift. We'll all be living joyously, in truth with each other and ourselves in a beautiful world overflowing with more than enough love for everyone including our inter-galactic visitors, if they decide to join in our fun experiences. We'll see. I think it is fairly unlikely that I will be one of the lucky people to be alive in 3012, but, if I am, I look forward to sharing a whole lot of giggles with you all.

May 24 2012:
First, I'm making the assumption that we haven't blown ourselves up, in one of a countless number of ways. Given that, there are two forces which are going to radically change the course of Human history in the centuries to come.

1) Computer Technology/Artificial Intelligence - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity - We're going to approach a point where the computers and systems we design are going to be able to design better computers all by themselves. As far as we can tell, there is no reason to believe that the processing and creative power of our own minds can't be surpassed by the machines that we create.

2) Gene Modification/Gene Therapy - Eventually, we'll have the tools and the knowledge to radically alter our own biology. There is no reason to believe that once we have those tools that humanity will avoid exploiting those tools. Individual nations may ban that sort of science on the grounds of morality, ethics, or taboo; however, there is no reason to believe that will be the case in all places, and over the course of a 1K years, I don't think there is any reason to believe that our biology today will remain sacrosanct. I think it's impossible to determine whether this will be a generally uplifting feature for society, or whether it will serve to further divide society.

Both of the above forces will lead to a radically different society... The very concept of what it means to be human may be very different, and the ways in which we interact with the world will be different. I don't know whether things will be better or worse, and I think it is impossible to make guesses about laws, culture, or economics.

Alternatively, my initial assumption could be wrong. We could end up living in some post apocalyptic hellscape and starting from scratch, or simply annihilate ourselves. But that isn't the exciting answer, nor do I believe it to be likely... Maybe I'm biased: (http://www.ted.com/talks/tali_sharot_the_optimism_bias.html)

May 28 2012:
Current ideas in physics seem to preclude the idea of travelling into the past. As for travelling into the future, well we can do that now, just not really well. High Speeds and gravity wells effectively push you forward in time faster as you approach the speed of light (General and Special Relativity). We know that works, because of GPS. GPS satellites that don't account for relativity very quickly stop working properly.

TARDIS's, Deloreans, Enterprises slingshotting around the sun, and other time machines will likely stay in the movies.

May 24 2012:
As much as I might sound like a killjoy, I don't think we have a chance of guessing anything remotely close to what happens. In 1012 when my ancestors were living in the lowlands of Scotland awaiting the Norman invasion I doubt any of them could have forseen what today is like. I assume 3012 will be just as surprising from here as computers and commercial space flight would have been in 1012. Maybe telepathy does work maybe we'll break the light barrier maybe there will be a galactic federation maybe we'll be able to travel in some of the other dimensions suggested by string theory maybe..........my head hurts

May 21 2012:
I am usually the optimist, but I want to take a different approach on this considering most everyone has been fairly optimistic.

I can see the world evolving in to a world void of emotions, feelings, or care as we know it today. With the increase in technology we will discover how to simulate the brain, transfer consciousness, work as a collective, etc. (Sounds Star Trek Borgish now that I think about it). Society will have enough of suffering, the pain that emotion can cause, the inefficiencies that emotions place on us and people will transfer themselves from a biological form to a robotic form to help eliminate emotion. Because efficiency and processing works better in a larger group, individuality will be sacrificed for one large collective in order to process information faster to satisfy the human desire for knowledge and eventually all of humanity will be one large unit of thought that works through robotic means to accomplish its desires.

May 21 2012:
Mine is a very Star Trekian vision. I see a world where every child has access to optimal health and nutrition where each person feels uniquely valued for their personal strengths and is not perturbed by their weaknesses because they know that others are very good at those things. It would be a very green and clean world and all the businesses would have public good as one of the basic business articles of incorporation.

May 21 2012:
Hi Kent! Thanks for the interesting question!
I blelieve that our scientists will eventually prevail and the earth will be used for its optimal purpose in every area. For example: paper mills will stop producing artifical vanilla and most vanilla willl be produced where the very best conditions exist. this would mean each place would produce its optimal crop and income would be more wide spread. There would be no debt slavery. There would be no artificial junk going into the healthy bodies of our children (or eventually ourselves) and we would use money prudently for maximum benefit. Money will be less relevant because we will all work to ensure everyone everywhere has the bestchances because we will recognize that we are one species and one family.

May 29 2012:
I think we will have gone through the economic based social structure by then. Everyone will be rich and everyone will be poor, depending on what aspects of free behavior you see as being part of either class.
When people have secure economic underpinnings, they have less children. Less children will be seen as a world wide necessity before that time, and being poor will not be allowed. Being uneducated to your personal best will not be allowed. Being unplugged from the mind net will not be allowed. Privacy will be allowed but will actually be impossible to achieve. The 'corporate' will produce anything that people are allowed to have in any quantity that is judged healthy.

The population will be the main problem. Maintaining a healthy life style for all people will require a depth of personal monitoring unheard of today. Genetics will be a foundation stone of the society. To have a baby you will need a license. It will not be possible to have children unless you get a license. Before age 5, children will be inoculated against all possible diseases, including fertility. Fertility will be unlocked after a person obtains a license. The visible accomplishments of obtaining an education, exhibiting a positive influence on your environment, and a record of cooperation with your society will be some of the prerequisites of the fertility license.

The personal freedoms Americans have today will be seen as anti-social aberrations. The ability to get drunk, and drive, for example, will be impossible. Cars won't allow it. The ability to go 'postal' and kill your workmates will be impossible. The transportation system will not allow guns on board, your car will not allow guns on board, and the entrances into your home or workplace won't allow guns to pass.

But mainly, people won't want to do those things. People will want to stand out from the crown by virtue of their creativity and contributions.

May 21 2012:
That is a good vision Debra:>)
I became familier with Star Trek when my son was in high school. He came home between activities, and while eating dinner, often watched Star Trek. I figured...if I was going to "spend time with my son", it would be beneficial to do it on his terms, so I started sitting with him and watching Star Trek.:>)The conversations that evolved were AMAZING!!!

After my near fatal head/brain injury, NDE/OBE, I don't think Star Trek was too far from reality....well....maybe another reality that we (humans) may not be so familer with:>)

Kent...to answer the topic question, I believe humans are evolving to the point where we are becoming more aware and mindful. One of the underlying factors to control, manipulation, abuse and violation of rights is isolation. We are becoming more aware, and also, our communication technology allows us to connect immediately around the world, so we can be more aware of violation of human rights. In my humble perception, that is a huge step forward.

Debra.....welcome back, and I hope you are doing well...my loving energy is sent to you:>)

May 21 2012:
Thanks Colleen, I agree that Star Trek causes great conversations but my sons might have caught the bug from me!
I loved your point about isolation. It boarders on profound and Sir Aurther Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes pointed out something similar in one of his books.

May 22 2012:
LOL! No "superwoman" on this end...just another human being traveling through the life experience with as much consciousness and love as I can have in my heart and mind in each moment.

Kent,
I agree with your opening statement...
"History has taught us to never underestimate the abilities of the human mind. There has been many advancements in science that has cleared up questions about our universe. Advancements that have led to cures of many diseases....".

To add to that, our brain is advancing as well, and we are beginning to recognize how much influence we actually have regarding the circumstances in our lives. I believe that is one of the greatest advancements of all!

When I sustained the head/brain injury 22 years ago, first I was not expected to live because of the severe damage to the brain. When I tricked them on that count and lived, they said I would never function "normally" again because of the severe damage. We now know that the brain creates new pathways. I knew that 22 years ago, but it took science awhile to catch up with me:>) LOL!!!

I can laugh about it now, but rest assured that the journey was not always laughable.

Jun 19 2012:
Don't get me wrong, I fully believe in the greenhouse effect but your scenario is just not possible. If you do the math you will discover that Venus has always been too hot to support life. If it were heavier gravity may have stopped its oceans evaporating. Even without the atmosphere it rotates so slowly it would still have a boiling hot side and a freezing cold side.

Jun 20 2012:
Really Ithink the biggest effect of CO2 on humanity will be the possible wars caused by large populations having to relocate from places like europe and the US as they get dry to places like canada and greenland as they warm and become agricultural.

May 31 2012:
Personally, I think it's going to go the way of "The Day After Tomorrow." The North Atlantic Current is already slowing down....when it stops for good, goodbye warm climate. This will be good for the planet but very bad for humans, at least those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. Then I can easily imagine gangs of people and governments trying to dig through the ice to reach bank vaults buried beneath, martial law, a black market selling all those priceless objects and secrets stored in vaults in Switzerland...should be a nice place really.

May 31 2012:
Europe and north america are surely going to have problems if it goes that way, but in Australia we have had record rainfall in the central deserts four years in a row now. I can see a future of migration as what are now deserts became farmland and vice versa.

Earth's atmosphere will have gone the way of Venus', owing to a run-away greenhouse effect. Average temperature is north of 300ºC, and pressure well above 70 bar. Some people initially survived in domes, a few more in extra-terrestrial installations, but in a couple hundred years the first faded away and the second, not having yet reached the point where they can live and progress fully autonomously, are quickly following. What follows is fantasy, since there is no one to recount it.

The climate change was too fast for all but very few organisms to adapt, so life mostly disappeared, except for a few extremophiles which were already adapted to a hot sulfur-rich atmosphere and some fungi which managed to float around in the higher altitudes. Essentially we're back to Achaean. It will take at least another 30m years for photosynthesis to reappear and begin the oxygenation of the atmosphere, and the cycle to start again.

May 30 2012:
You paint a scary picture, but Venus is like it is because it is much closer to the Sun. The intensity of the Sun on venus is about double that on the Earth. Venus only barely scrapes the inside edge of the "Goldilocks zone". It would have to be a very special planet to support life so close to the sun. If you moved the Earth in to the same orbit the oceans would evaporate. Then CO2 would be the leastof our worries.

Jun 1 2012:
You're trusting media way too much... There is no such thing as a greenhouse effect...and the climate on earth is never constant. Its always changing. we've had 11 recorded ice-ages and then extremely hot temperatures. Earth is behaving perfectly normal as far as the climates go. Earth is warming a little but that is due to the increased solar activity.
I have done extensive research on this issue. You can trust what I say. I have official documents proving my claims.
I'll be more than happy to share it with you but then you have to promise not to go about scaring people about a catastrophe of some sorts.....lol

May 28 2012:
I'm curious, why did you pick year 3012? Any year that we have not experienced could of been just as valid being that we do not know what it will be like to be in that year until we get there.

instead of 1,000 years why not work now to get the things we want such as the support of gay marriage?

May 28 2012:
2050 is a better focus point. What can be achieved in the next 38 years on Planet Earth is truly remarkable. Extending the timeline too far into the future is pointless as there are too many variables. For pure visualisation and creative purposes however it can be a fun exercise to think what it will be like in 3012. Which model will prevail ? A dystopian "Blade Runner" or dysfunctional "Brazil" ? Ice cold "Gattaca", brutal "Soylent Green", "Omega Man" or "Planet of the Apes" ? Or will a more peaceful, stable, ordered, benevolent and expansive global paradigm prevail ? The choice is up to us. The creative process : Visualise - Verbalise - Actualise.

May 25 2012:
1,000 years from now...
Do you think we will find life on other planets? Not unless we take it there. We may discover signals from life out there but we will never go out there and discover it. Not in only 1,000 years.
Do you think there will be changes in our currencies? There will have to be. The digital age is too hackable. Paper is too easy to counterfeit. Governments are now gaining access to the most private information. The criminals are not far behind. How to buy and sell safely in the future will have been solved.
How will our ways of transportation change? Energy production will be off planet in huge solar satellites. All vehicles will be indirectly solar powered by broadcast energy.

On Earth, we will have blue skies, electric transportation and a planetary network of supersonic tubes propelled by compressed air that will carry us in luxury everywhere. Our cities will extend hundred of levels into the air and hundreds of level into the ground. huge areas of greenery will surround all cities, filled with as complete an environment as we can achieve.

10 to 12 billion people will live lives of creativity, exploration and self improvement. Gutter English will have been abandoned and flowery prose and sophisticated poetry will be the popular method of communicating. Mental hygiene will be part of normal health care. Emotions will be experienced in controlled environments including 3D virtual games where you can do anything that you imagine.

Everybody will be monitored, including the monitors. Crime will be against the law. Criminals will disappear. Anybody who wants to harm themslves, their family, or the community will be sent to Luna or Mars.

Comment deleted

May 29 2012:
Mental health will be part of the normal school curriculum. People who can benefit from MH treatment will get it automatically in school. Those who choose to do harm will be bannished. Perhaps there will be nature preserves on Earth where they can live. That way they can be studied and the mental health program can be improved.

May 22 2012:
We had to design The Chicago Skyline in the year 3012 in my applied drawing class. I believe there will be a massive war or natural disaster that will wipeout 80/% the population and will change the way the world operates. Eventually Scientist will harvest Dar matter in the universe providing the planet with an infinite power source billions of times more powerful than any energy source we know of now allowing us to colonize outside our solar system. This will also allow us to produce food more efficiently. People will where gravity defying fibbers and fly around. Cities will be built on sky islands and float in mid air. Earth will be like the White House planet and humans will fully occupy a series of earth like planets throughout the universe.

May 21 2012:
I have a hard enough time imagining what life will be like 100 years from now, much less 1,000.... everything seems to be changing so fast now, even in my own relatively short lifetime. If we don't destroy ourselves first, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see our technology advance to the point where humans are exploring and colonizing at least our own solar system, if not others... and while I doubt we'll live in anything like a Gene Roddenberry "we don't need money" utopia, I'm sure we'll have a very different way of valuing our time and services. What will humans do all day once we've finished designing machines to fulfill every one of our needs?

It's amazing to look back at what life was like in the year 1,012 and compare to now. The last thousand years have changed so much, can we even imagine what the next thousand will bring?

May 21 2012:
Hmm, good question... how will society deal with anti-social behavior 1,000 years from now? Maybe they'll try to rewire people's brains so no one's able to be anti-social anymore, and there aren't any criminals or greedy businesspeople or anything. Sounds like it'd be a nice cheesy sci-fi movie! :)

May 21 2012:
I would like to see prison systems evolve into self sustaining communities, and I think/feel we are heading in that direction.

As a volunteer with the dept. of corrections for 6 years, I noticed that those incarcerated were repeating patterns they had learned. They need to learn new patterns that will help them be productive members of our communities.

We need to "rewire people's brains" with new ideas that will be benificial to the whole of our global community:>)

May 22 2012:
Hi Kent,
I think/feel that EVERYONE would like to feel like a productive member of society, and some do not know how. I observed some who were more interested in making an effort, and some who were not. This is not different from the general population...is it?

While facilitating "cognitive self change" sessions, three of the men came in directly from the gardens, where they had been working in the sun, fresh air, to cultivate something VERY productive and meaningful. (This particular facility raised all their own vegetables and in addition, provided an abundance of vegetables for non-profit organizations)

The three men who came in directly from the gardens were in a more receptive emotional state than the other 7 participants, who had been hanging around, playing vileo games all day. I don't think it would be a difficult transition at all if it was wholeheartedly encouraged!

I think that is what our future holds....awareness of how we can change some patterns that may support all people in being more productive to themselves and the global community:>)